If it is passed, the Proposition 16 amendment on this year’s ballot will require local governments to obtain two-thirds voter approval before they can provide electricity to new customers or expand their services. In other words, citizens could block attempts by their city councils to expand the service area for existing public utilities or create new ones.

Mitchell Colbert lifted a copy of his student transcripts above his head. With his free hand, he raised a lighter. “During the Vietnam War, soldiers would burn their draft cards to protest the war,” the senior San Jose State University political science major shouted into the microphone. “Well, I have for you today a copy of my transcript.”

There’s bad news for the City Council again. The deficit is up 16 percent and now stands at $116.2 million. The problem, says City Manager Debra Figones, is employee pension costs, and especially the pension costs for retired policemen and firemen. While they were expected to grow by $38 million during the next fiscal year, the estimate has been adjusted and now stands at $53 million. Exacerbating the problem is reduced revenue from business tax receipts, which continues to drop.

“Those who don’t understand history are condemned to repeat it.”  When it comes to the San Jose Airport expansion and renovation project, it’s looking more and more like city officials failed to learn from the costly experience of the Taj Mahal city hall.

When Peter Friess came to the Tech Museum in 2006, he brought with him a vision of transforming it into a world class institution with “blockbuster” traveling exhibits and constantly updated permanent exhibits. He believed that this would stop the museum’s sharp decline from 1999 to 2005, when revenue dropped 50 percent and attendance declined from 809,000 visitors to just 391,000.

“RTTP” is part of the new parlance of school and government employees. In a few days we will be told by U.S. Secretary of Education Duncan which Race To The Top state applications are considered finalists for funding in the first round of competition.

Forty states applied for the S4.25 billion in total funding. The prize, financed by the economic American Recovery and Reinvestment Act, will range from $350 million to $700 million per state and be awarded in April. Will California be on the list in this first round?

Professor Donald Shoup of UCLA visited City Hall last week. He was in San Jose to present a lecture titled, “Why free parking is a bad idea.”  The information he shared is based on his book and research.

There are approximately 700 million parking spaces for 230 million cars in this country and 99 percent of cars trips have free parking.  Prof. Shoup showed an aerial picture of the Cisco Systems campus with its empty asphalt parking lots. He felt that these empty parking lots are not a good use of land and that it creates higher-than-needed vehicle miles traveled (VMT). He then continued to share what he thought would be a way to better utilize the land, which was to allow Cisco to build housing on their parking lots and waive all parking requirements.

How far do citizens’ rights to assemble freely extend? Citing an increasing gang presence in the city’s streets, Councilmember Nora Campos says it may be too far. The ACLU thinks differently.

Have you noticed, there’s been more than a few angry letters to the editor submitted to the Mercury News by San Jose residents over the past few weeks?  It seems that folks are a bit ticked-off by the present condition of their city, and are placing the blame on the city council and the unions that run them.  (Yes, that’s right…the unions run the council.)

Too many of our children are overweight and out of shape. According to the 2005-06 Santa Clara County Civil Grand Jury report, 22 to 31 percent of children are overweight and 30 to 41 percent are physically unfit. We’ve got a problem, but the good news is we are moving in the right direction.

Mayors of California’s ten largest cities met with the CEOs of some of the state’s ten largest companies at San Jose’s Morton’s Steakhouse last night for more than just an evening of rare beef and wine. They are all fed up with how the state is operating, and decided to work together to fight for real changes

Mayor Reed shared a candid and honest view of city revenues and expenses at the State of the City Breakfast last week. (Personally, I miss the State of the City speeches in the evening as it led to dinner after the speech and spending money Downtown.) As we already know the City is walking the plank, with the sharks swimming below in the ocean (sharks = bankruptcy) and a sword wielding pirate (pirate = hard choices) is forcing us to walk down the plank off the ship. Walking back up the plank in not an option unless tough decisions are made now. However it seems that another alternative being heard more and more at city hall is borrowing.

While we slash services like park maintenance, the City has millions of dollars in park fees, sitting in reserves.  Under state law, we charge developers fees to enable us to build parks, pools and community centers whenever they build a new housing project. For over a decade, we have been building community-serving amenities that we cannot pay to maintain or operate. It would be irresponsible to continue on this course.

Dr. Charles Weis, the county’s superintendent of schools, is shortening the leash on the East Side Union High School District following a damning report that was released last month. Weis attended the board’s meeting last night and grilled the members, demanding that they hire an internal auditor immediately—before he pulls their power over their own $200-million-plus budget.

In a major reversal of a controversial decision, Dan Fenton of Team San Jose, the group that operates the San Jose Convention Center, has backed down from an earlier decision granting Teamsters Local 287 exclusive rights to set up trade shows at the Convention Center.

Reporter Jessica Fromm is at the San Jose 2010 Community Breakfast, covering Mayor Chuck Reed’s State of the City Address. Inside: A live blog form the event.